Solutions to storage problems continue to resonate with the market, from storage in the cloud to, now, storage in the ceilings.A San Francisco startup designs modules that store your bed, closet, desk, and nightstand in the ceiling that can be lowered on your command.Bumblebee Spaces was cofounded in 2017 by Tesla and Apple veteran Sankarshan Murthy.
The furniture modules are 13 inches thick and organized Tetris-style against the ceiling — they aren't built into the concrete or drywall of a home. The company offers king and queen-size beds, nightstands, dressers, a desk, and deeper modules for storing things like luggage.The idea is that the systems can, for example, take a two-bedroom apartment and add a third room with the modules, one of which could be a privacy wall, cofounder Sankarshan Murthy told Business Insider.
Bumblebee Spaces will sometimes work with homeowners to retrofit their homes, but the company mostly sells directly to multi-family developers that either own, operate, or develop apartments themselves. The startup focuses on retrofitting, but it's also working with some developers to architect the space around the ceiling systems, which could be cheaper overall.
Murthy demonstrated the systems for Business Insider on a recent visit to the Bumblebee Spaces office in the Mission neighborhood.A demo space in the startup's office.Solutions to storage problems continue to resonate with the market, from storage in the cloud to, now, storage in the ceilings.Katie Canales/Business Insider
The modules are categorized as fixtures, furniture, and equipment a term used to describe movable furniture that is not permanently connected to a structure. They're similar to light fixture installations in a home."Then we hang the robots off of those, and all the load is kind of distributed all over the ceiling," Murthy said.
The sensors also scan the space underneath where a module would descend into and, if someone or something was in the way, would remain in its lofted position.
hyped to see something i’m working on w a buncha other talented people shared out in the world 🤩 also casual plug that there are a open roles:
A double bed that descends from the ceiling with a voice command... what could go wrong?